Sunday 9 December 2012

War On Christmas?

It seems to be much more of a thing in America but i have never wished, or been wished 'Happy Holidays' which sounds a more likely thing for Summer rather than Christmas to my ear. 
I'm an atheist and a strange as it sounds, i don't associate the 'Christ' part with Christmas at all, it's just the name of the bit of season when Santa shows up and the presents are handed out so i don't really understand this 'war against Christmas' that i keep reading about on American sites.
I remember Birmingham City Council renaming the whole of the Christmas and New Year period as Winterval a decade or so ago which sparked a bit of controversy but apart from that, i can't say i have noticed the word Christmas being removed or changed to a less sensitive word here.   
It seems that nobody in America says 'Merry Christmas' anymore, it's 'Happy Holidays' to avoid offending the non-Christians and any specific mention of the word 'Christmas' or its religious aspects are avoided and i have seen online such things as 'holiday trees' and how Wal-Mart managing to not use the word Christmas once in their Christmas advertising campaign.
The ire for this state of affairs seems to be aimed at atheists and leftists trying to force secular-ideology onto the American public and as one right wing website points out, that secular road leads to 'sky-rocketing rates of single parenthood, divorce, crime, drugs, venereal disease, depression and homosexuality.'
It finishes that 'The American people will not allow Christmas to evolve into a winter solstice, secular-progressive holiday' and i agree with them despite being a leftist atheist, but why be so weird about it?
I imagine the people who decide to drop the Christmas word are doing it for what they perceive to be the right reasons, to not cause offence to non-Christians as over-protective as that may be and not to usher in a glorious period of syphilis and gonorrhoea.
To be honest i don't give a second thought to whether a person celebrates it or not, I wish them a Merry Christmas anyway and leave it up to them to either accept it or ignore it as they wish the same way as if someone wished me a Happy Eid, i wouldn't be upset, angry or berate them for hoping that i have a happy time on a day I don't necessarily celebrate, and i would guess 99.9% of non-Christians would feel the same way if you hope they have a Merry Christmas.
Now stop being so politically correct, forget the Happy Holidays nonsense, stick this business card for the divorce lawyer in your purse and stuff a mince pie in your cake hole.
Not that one, the one over there with the extra deep filling of herpes injected mince.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lucy,

Your logic from afar makes sense. If you had been here in person you would have a better understanding.

1. Our press did make an issue out of it.
2. So did the democrat party.
3. Though I don’t know which came first…
3. So did the ACLU - but they did it with law suits in civil court and this happened next:
> public schools at all levels from el-hi to college had to cease with Christian references.
> large corporations became the target of civil lawsuits and they lost (including the company i work for).
> to avoid civil penalties large corporations had to not only stop the references to such language, they had to prove that they were trying to prevent it.
> this expanded to all aspects of our society except church, and ironically enough, the US congress and US senate.
> so for the last 15 years schools, government offices, and businesses have been required to develop policies and training to prevent "hostile environment".
> hostile environment does not require intent! example: if employee A hears a conversation by employee B, even if it is intended to be private, and A is offended enough to complain, the company is obligated to intervene.
> so, complaints, mostly by atheists, about religion (but almost exclusively Christianity) have essentially driven companies, schools, and government offices to eliminate the phrase “Merry Christmas” so that we don’t have hostile environments
> in addition, most organizations are now implementing cultural awareness efforts to prevent hostile environment. That means every month we have posters, guest lecturers, and other stuff for African American month, Hispanic American month, Asian American month, yes, and get this European American month… ha ha ha haaaaaaa

Actions have consequences…

q

Lucy said...

I didn't know it was that bad or taken that seriously q. I am quite shocked that it is. I hope it is an American trend that never makes it here but i don't think it will because religion, even at Christmas, just don't hold that much sway.

Nog said...

Use of "Christmas" is getting a little weird around here. I mean, everyone still says marry Christmas, but the retailers stick "happy holidays" on everything.